Plesionika longicauda (Rathbun, 1901)

(Fig. 1)

Pandalus longicauda Rathbun, 1901: 117, Fig. 24.

Plesionika longicauda — Chan & Crosnier 1991: 425, Figs. a, 5a, b, d, f, 38, 39; Rodriguez & Hendrickx 1993: 122; Cruz & Fransen 2004: 138.

Parapandalus narval — Holthuis 1951: 68; 1980: 142; Crosnier & Forest 1973: 221, Fig. 69a (non Fabricius, 1787).

Plesionika escatilis — Lemaitre & Gore 1988: 383, Figs. 1, 2, 3A – J, 4 (non Stimpson 1860).

Material examined. 2 ov. females, 2 miles off N Guanta, Anzoátegui state, 10°25’00”N 64°35’00”W, Fridtjof Nansen st 490, 143 – 154 m depth, 4.vi.1988, (MMM-Crus-259); 2 females, 2 males, 17 miles NE Orinoco Delta, 10°25’00”N 64°35’00”W, Fridtjof Nansen st 716, 37 – 42 m depth, 27.viii.1988 (MMM-Crus-261); 1 female, 3 miles NW Robeldal, Margarita Island, 11°03’36.00”N 64°25’12.00”W, Fridtjof Nansen st 483, 95 – 96 m depth, 2.vi.1988, (MMM-crus 348); 1 female, 22 miles off NE Los Testigos Archipelago, 11°39’00”N 62°52’48”W, Fridtjof Nansen st 457, 520 – 640 m depth, 30.v.1988, (MMM-Crus- 463). As Parapandalus narval 3 nd, 35 miles off NW Los Testigos Archipelago, 11°52’12”N 63°15’00”W, Fridtjof Nansen st 776, 159 – 164 m depth, 5.ix.1988, (USNM 256501); 1 nd (rostrum broken), 9 miles off N Chuspa, Miranda state, 10°45’00”N 66°19’12”W, Fridtjof Nansen st 510, 182 – 184 m depth, 6.vi.1988 (USNM 256503).

Geographic & bathymetric distribution. Western Atlantic Ocean: Gulf of Mexico, Colombia (Arboletes), Venezuela (Miranda, Anzoategui states; Orinoco delta, Margarita and Testigos Islands), Suriname to Brazil (Espirito Santo). Eastern Atlantic: from south of Senegal, Liberia, Congo to Angola: 55 – 500 m (Chan & Crosnier 1991; Cruz & Fransen 2004; Felder et al. 2009; present studio).

Remarks. A school of specimens of P. longicauda was seen and photographed inside a cave at approximately 60 m in Chichiriviche de la Costa, La Guaira state (Fig. 1b) and represents the first reports of this species for Venezuela.

Specimens with long, slender, upward-curved rostrum, 1.7 – 2.1 times as long as carapace, with 33 – 48 dorsal teeth, including 5 on carapace, posterior to level of orbital margin, ventrally armed with 23/32 teeth. Abdomen without posteromedian tooth or median dorsal carina on third somite, pleuron of fourth somite without marginal denticle, fifth somite with pleuron tapering to strong posteroventral tooth, sixth somite slightly more than twice as long as wide and slightly longer than telson. Telson with 3-4 pairs of dorsolateral spines, including pair adjacent to lateral pair of posterior spines. Third maxilliped with exopod and without epipod, penultimate segment 1.3-1.55 times longer than terminal segment.

These characters coincide perfectly with those described by Chan & Crosnier (1991) for P. longicauda, and separates it very well from the other species of the narval species group of the genus Plesionika. P. longicauda and P. narval, the only two species of the narval species group present in the Atlantic Ocean, share the absence of a denticle on the posteroventral angle of the fourth abdominal pleura and differ from each other in the absence of an epipod in the third maxilliped in P. longicauda whereas an epipod is present in P. narval.

P. longicauda is distributed throughout the western Atlantic and in the southern eastern Atlantic from south Senegal to Angola while P. narval is distributed in along the eastern Atlantic coast from Gibraltar to the Cape Verde Islands; South Atlantic (St. Helena); Red sea; Indo-West Pacific from Madagascar to French Polynesia. The bathymetric distribution seems to be another differences between these two species since P. longicauda seems to be distributed in shallower water, between 55 and 500 m depth, while P. narval is distributed in waters between 175 and 900 m. Our specimens were captured between 37 and 640 m depth and the specimen from Chichiriviche de la Costa was caught at a depth of 60 m.